Monday, June 11, 1962

Action Due On 2 Needed Fqpilities

Dont You Cross My Picket Line!

Now that the City Council has approVed bids received on the propb.sed ne\v>* Carver Library to be constructed h^e, we trust thefe will be no further long delays in getting work underway on the new facility.

for the a Library

The

hav long been inadequate and the need for the new facilities have become considerably more acute since the bond issue for the new building was passed some 20 months ago.

Slightly more than $10,000 will be needed from' the city during the current fiscal year to supplemnt _ ^

the $35,980 earmarked in the 1960 ivond election

for the new library. This| addifionai money repre WXll V v? OLvXLw O

"^cnts the difference between the amount~apiwove.*'

not overlook the fact that the new fire substation is stiH needed by Greenville as it wa^vhen the bond issue for its construction was passed by the voteris. If, as in the case of the Carver Library, construction costs may be expected to exceed the amount of bond issue money available, some provision should be made in the coming budget. If the new fire substation is to be constructed in the coming fiscal year, there will also be a need for equipment for the station and firemen to man the station, both of which should be reflected in the new budget

--------------pjiuM r.,

for the project in the bond issue and the total low

bifls the city recetved the project last m

Including this amount-for a suTgle capital in> Gov, Sanfords offer of Bladen State Forest to provements project in the city budgeL-for tht^Air Force for a practice range for planes sta-iiig fiscal year proI>ablv will posett pioblcoi;"lTtffT?1T^ tioncd cTtlSeynibur Johnson base in GoldsForo Is jn-tmdertaking .hould not be postponed longer. It is dieative of the desire of North Carolina to cooperateX a facility that is needed and should be provided. with the AiJXuuuUji fjpfjinf snifahlo run^ X

^ Attention

should also he called 4o funds approved in the same bopd issue almost two years ago for a new substation for the fire department in the southeastern section of the city. So far nothing further has been done to bring this facility iin.o reality. ^Certainly iliorc ha^ been ample time for planning work to be done toward getting the. substation ready.

.As it considers appropriations for the new fiscal year which begins July 1, the C^'ity C,^>^cil should

It represents a genuine effort by the state to locate an alternate site the Air Force might use in place of its choice for a range near Lake Matta-muskect in Hyde County.

$20

Stil.

Millions Is A

The offer holds out hope that the Air Force may be able to fill its need for a practice range in the .Mate without resorting to the Hyde County area. Before hopes get too high that the alternative proposed by Gov. Sanford will end the controversy, it should be remembered that considerably more than just land aiTa is involved in finding a suitable practice range.

DIG hleiD

A SHIRES

Tuenty mil

By WLLIAM

REVENUES - _ . ___

lion dollars in the bank isnt much when youre talking about a budget of one and a half billion. But it helps.

It helps especially along about time for the preparing of the 1963-65 biennial budget, for the legislature which convenes at the middle of the term of Gov. Terry Sanford, ^^'ith the governor, the people and the legislature apparently dead-set against any more tax increases.

Thus while the $20 million in revenues over and above estimates on which the l%l-63 budget was based isn't much. It is mighty welcomealong with an anticipated $7 or $8 million credit balance built up by spending less than the legislature appropriated.

That more money will be neededand looked for everywhere short of raising taxesis fairly certain. Bond issues for capital improvements and refinancing bonds for secondary roads are more than just po.s-aibilities for a year from now.

ESTEVIATES-On the basis of recent past performances in North Carolina state officials believe that revenues exceeding estimates by $20 million is pretty closeand entirely satisfactory as long as its on the black side of the ledger.

There would be great cause for concern if, in view' of the 1961 tax program and the states expanding economy, the $20 million was in the red.

The factors that make a budget as large as that for the state of North Carolina's balance out include not just income and expenditures, but. things like surplus, credit balances, Windfalls, savings and cushions.

It isnt easy for revenue officials to look at tax rates and charts, performance, the current economy and project two ycai-s ahead how much money the state will take in. But that is their job.

The constitution of North Carolina requires a balanced biennial budget, and the troubles that would come about otherwise dictate that the revenue estimates be pegged on the con-setwative side,

AHEADThis taking a two year look ahead is a biennial headache for the state revenue

department. the advisory budget commission and the legislature.

There have been many sharp debates about whether the revenue commissioner should not be required to thake more realistic estimates which, if just a bit fatter, might include funds for that certain pet project back home.

There have been proposals that the legislature meet every' year instead of every two years principally because it is easier to guess for a one year period instead of two. The time of the convening of the legislature has been changed from January to February to permit the revenue department to come up with more accurate figures on how much money will be available.

It has happened in the past 30 or 15 years, especially in the postwar and Korea years, that revenue estimates have been far below actual collections.

This resulted from overly conservative estimates and a rapidly-expanding economy. -At the same timeand this problem has bbn increasingcosts of state government and the size of the budget have multiplied even more rapidly, and there hasnt been an administration in Raleigh yet that hasn't felt a pinch at one time or another.

Officials of the Sanford administration are well aware of the fact that $20 million, figuratively or literally, can be wiped out with the flourish o| an official pen or w-ith next months paychecks.

CHANGES-Theres been no fat state surplus built up. not with the rate of spending necessary since about 1955-56. Thats when the treasury had a nice credit balance of $65 Nowadays the credit balance from savings amounts to about one-tenth of that figure, while the spending rate Ls 25 to 40 percent greater.

In the past five or six years, the state tax-revenue picture has been through enough gyrations to make a mathematician trying to plot a pattern throw dowTi his pencil.

These ran the gamut of corporation income tax revisions, revenue - triggered salary increases. windfall income tax collections from withholding and, of course, the 1961 new tax program.

^ Apparentl: the land area at Bladen Lakes is sufficient to fill the requirements, but what about the possibility of conflicting air corridors in theX^ a

area for commercial or military aircraft? Is the site i:>y JUllN ABNLY sufficiently removed from populated areas to per-rnit flight patterns which measure up to the Air Force minimum safety requirements for practice

?.anic

Kiy Soread

D

ranges;

ueblas Chinese Lady

PUEBLA. Mexico In 168.L Sir William Dampier was cruLs-ing around the Pacific Ocean seeing what he could pick up

Every, effort should be made both by the state and by the Air Force to ascertain the answers to these (iue.stions as quickly as possible so the matter may be settled. State officials and representatives of for the King of England, what the Tactical Air Command should give their joint Picked up was mostly cargo consideration to all facets of the proposed area immediately so that any obstacles that exist may be re.solved.

frm Spanish ships.

This made the King of Spain mad because Sir Willie had a highly developed taste for

There is general recognition of the Air Force need for a practice range in the state for its planes at Seymour Johnson. There is likewise general recognition that most Tar Heels would be happier if the r^ange were not in the Lake Mattamuskeet area. The sooner the matter is resolved the better it will be both for the Air P'orce and for the state.

ivory, gold^ silver, jewels and

r

.ne

J: actors in Stock Collaose

The Daily Reflector

INCORPORATED

Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday Established 188k DAVID JULIAN WHICHARD, Publishor

Entered at Post Office. Greenville. N C.. as seror.d cli mail matter.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Carrier (In Towns) Week 30c

By Carrier (Motor Routes) Week 35r

BY MAIL, Payable In Advaoct

GreenyUle Post Office. Pitt County, Rober-sonvllle. Vancet>oro Washington and Chocowinity.

Three Months ................. $ S 75

Six Months ........ ^ 7 0Q

One Year _________.....

North Carolina (other than Usted alxiye)........

Three Montlxs . . j. ...... t 4j

Bix Months ........ .LL.T77777!t~ 7

One Year - : ] 14.00

Plus 3% N. C. &ile8 Tax All Other Outside Ncwtb Carolina

By RALPH ROBEY

Many Administration spokesmen during the stock market collapse said that the break was unjustified, that, the bu.siness condition is sound, and so forth and soon. There is some truth in this point of view, but it is not the whole, story by a long shot. Ceriainly the stock market drop was more than it should have been, and this is going to be a year when new records are made over a wide range of the bu.siness picture. But this does not mean that there is nothing to worry about. We still have .a vast range of problems of crucial importance.

But first let us take a look at some of the favorble factors: Gross National Product, the total monetary value of all goods and services of the nation, is .still advancing. This is estimated only on a quarterly ba.sis, and for the first three months of the year the figure was S.548 billion. This was an increase of only $6 billion over the final quarter of 1961. The total is expected to rise for the remainder of 1962^ but the Ad-, ministrsiions estmate of $570* billion for the . year as a whole . is now unattainable.

Total industrial production still Is on the upgrade, but There is no real zip to it, and no one expects a sharp upsurge for the balance of 1962. We may even have months when there is no overall increase at all. Automobile production is doing hand-.somely. and there is optimistic talk of a .'ven-million-car year, including imports, but this .still appears high.

Housing starts have shown the .second monthly sharp in-crea.se. and this has renewed predictions that we shall have ].40(JikK) piivate non-farm .starts this year. .\nd overall ron.-;tniction continue.s to .show encouraging increa.'^e.s over tlie .same p<-riod last year'. But nei-|ter of thp.se Is golhg to contribu a great deal of lift to the busine.'^is trend a a whole.

Hetail trade Is iip sliehtlv. The sam( is true of whoVssale trade. Inventories are Increa.s-

ing, but at a consta..tly declining rate. Credit lemains pleiir tiful, and there are no signs that the Federal Reserwe Board is about to change its policy. ^And so it is from one end of 'the economy to the other.

Now as to major problems still facing us the follow'ing deserve great emphasis;

^ Unemployment is still too high, and nothing significant is being done to reduce it to acceptable proportions.

Corporate profits are still being squeezed, and this tends to hold dow'n the volume of investment in plant and equipment, which is unfortuate for all points of view.

Wages are advancing, and frequently by more than the increase in output per manhour. This adds to the co.st of production and, wlth the difficulty of raising prices, it serves as a damper on the whole business structure.

The deficit in our balance of international payments is much too large for even us to be able to .stand. Present indications are that the surplus of exports over importsthe trade balance may be even smaller than the approximately $5 billion we have been enjoying, and that will make the deficit even more painful. The Administration is keenly aware of this problem, but .so far has offered no real .solution.

Federal government spending continues to climb. Some of it is the result of growing difficulties around the world, but more corties from the fact that the pre.sent Administration believes this Is the best means for lifting the trend of bu.sine.ss. This, it may l>e noted. Is one of the reasons there is such widespread feeling that the federal government as a unit Is now' anti-bu.sine.ss.

As we have stated many time.s in this space, we stDI believe that the business trend will continue upward for the rest of this year. But the uptrend, in our judgment, will leave much to be de.sirrd.

such items. Since the King of Spain already had his troops out lifting these curious from natives on both sides of the ocean, he was in no mood to tolerate burglary on the high .seas. And he told his, troops to load the guns in Acapulco, just in case.

Now all of this would have had nothing to do with Puebla, which is located in the mountains far from the Pacific Ocean, if the British had not decided to wallop the Port of Acapulco* ^

This was where the .money boats from Peru and China put in to deposit funds in Spain's r#.val account. Naturally, Sir Bill figured he could become a Duke if he hoisted the- Acapulco Bank instead of-ajaerely .shooting at ships,

, So one day he took his pirate

'fleet to the entrance of Acapulcos big bay and commenced firing on the civilians. The civilians and Spaniards lit their fuses and fired back with a terrible barrage. Sir William hit the trail for quieter waters.

Ruddy savages! he yelled. Aiming at British ships trying to make an honest living. Its the thieving Spaniards thats leading these poor redskins from, the paths of righteou.sness, that's wot!

The fleet set its course for Alanila to see what was happening on the other side of the pond. Enroute to Manila, they chanced upoa a Chinese ship and drilled it with a few cannon balls.

1 All they found aboard was a Chinese Princess named Mirra, who had nothing but a suitcase fulTof clothes. Since tills Would not even pay for the price of the gunpowder. Sir William sold the piince.ss as a slave to a merchant in Manila. Figuring a few' slUings was more than nothing.

The merchants bought a couple of tickets on the Acapulco boat and took his royal varlet along. The princess apparently

Other Editors Saying. Murder Without Trio

(Rocky Mount Tcleeram)

A rare case in American legal history involved two- men in Tennessee recently ^Hvho could nt be tried for murder because only two jurors cbuld be .found in the mountainous county. As incredible as this may .seem, it actually happened. A Tennessee Supreme Court Justice has offered some commeni on the matter.

Said Associate Justice Hamilton Burnett: It is a blot on our civilization when youve got a county where you cant get a jury to try people. But he and four other ju.stices agreed; A man is entitled to a trial in the county in which an offense occurs. Since the judge was unable to get a jury, the charges against the two men should remain dismissed, according to the high court justices.

The tw'o men were accused of killing two deputy .sheriffs in a gun battle. It took more than a week to pick a jury for their first trial w hich ended in mistrial. About 1,400 of the countys 7,000 residents were quCvS-tioned for jury duty then. The accused went on trial a .second time last March, but only two jurors could be found.

The rest .said they had formed an opinion, were related to the defendants or couldn't give a fair verdict. Circuit Judge Wayne Oliver dismissed The charges, saying it was a

deplorable, terrible fact that a jury couldn't be obtained in the county.

It Was contended that, while the .state constitution requires a trial in the county in which an qi(en.se is committed, there

The

sad.

wa.^'xnol a .single court in the W'orld w'hich has said the jurors must be from the county where the offen.se occurred. The asslst-aiit attorney . general insisted ' the law clearly stated a man was entitled to trial by jurors residing in the county where the offense occurs.

It does seem incomprehensible that a man should be deprived of a trial by his peers. That is just What happened in the Tennessee case. Nowadays one of the greate.st laments by sheriffs all over is the inability to maintain a full panel of citizens who are available for jury duty. There are more people than ever, but it seems that more of them are getting into the categories usually listed as unavailable.

In the Tennes.see ca.se there w as little else to b^ done except to release the two men charged W'ith murder. But the State of Tennessee should see to it tliat such a deplorable incident cannot happen^ again. Any citizen *is entitled Mo trial; to deprive him of that is to deprive him of his rights under the state and federal constitution.s.

did not work, out so well as a slave because the merchant sold her in Acapulco to Captain Miguel Sosa, who lived in Puebla.

Finally, we get around to the point. It seems that Captain Sosa was a very polite sort of person who considered it improper for royalty to go around being slaves. Also, he did not consider it correct for a lady to be a pagan.

He took the prince.ss to Puebla and tore up the slave ticket on her. Bought her clothes, jewelry and other items ladies admire. Then he had her baptized and re-named Catherine Saint John. Miss Mirra Catherine Saint John known as La China Poblana. It translates to The Puebla Chinese Lady.

As it turned out, the Chris-tianiz^ed princess was responsible for many things in the history of this colonial religious center. Slie set about teaching the local ladies to stitch brightly colored dresses and devised a style w'hich became the typical drdsSr It is known as the China Poblana costume. This niade her a very popular figure and Puebla made her a member of its Hall of Fame.

The chronicles do not state w;hat happened to Capt. Sosa after he .set the princess free. Probably he made major and retired to a hammock in Acapulco, W'hich Is the fiery ambition of your loyal correspondent.

But the princess stayed around Puebla going to church and helping the poor. Her oriental ideas merged .somehow' w'ith the . Spanish colonialism and everybody went around happily eating Chop Suey and Paella together. s

Miss Mirra Catherine Saint John died at the age of 88 and was buried in the chapel of a Puebla church. This was around 200 years ago but she still is remembered as if it happened last year.

And that is the story of how a Chinese princess helped form many of the traditions and the t.vpical dress of this Mexican city. Due to Sir Williams getting pasted w hen he tried to tip the' Bank of Acapulco.

Opinions Brief

in

Chubby Checker gets a 'silver di.^o from his Briti.sh rctoi-d company to make the .sale of more than 250.000 copies there of his Let.s 'Fwist Again records. If this is a .sample of how we treat our allie.s, its a wonder we have any left. Cleveland Plain Dealer. ,

By ROGER BABSON BABSON PARK. Mass. During the past week, almost everyone has been asking what has happened to the stock market. The newspapers have said nothing like it since 1929. Yet the Dow-Jbnes Industrial Average is off only about 20 per cent from Its all-time high which occurred at the start of 1962, The Industrials have suffered the most: the utillUes have suffered less; while the raUroads have suffered the least. On the other hand, almost everything has suffered somewhat,

REAL ESTATE, AUTOMOBILES, AND 4!M0i>lTffiS

The newspapers, television, and radio have made so much of the big break that people are getting It Into their heads that everything should go down In price. Therefore, w'hether they are looking for houses, automo biles, or even orange groves, they expect bargains, and they pay no attention to the prices of a month ago. This especially applies to used cars of W'hich there Is a surplus and the dealers are frying hard to convert them into cash.

The banks are getting frightened and have begun to ask their customers to reduce loans. They really have no reason for being frightened; but bankers are easily scared because It is not their money which they are loaning, but rather the money of their customers. They do not know when their customers wlll want to use their money to buy bargains themselves, and hence the bankers must be prepared to take care of them, Mo.st bankers wifeFe much disturbed by President Kennedys action.s ,when he lost his temper over the price of steel. They feel that President Kennedy is against business and profits, and, perhaps, is too favorable to the labor leaders. Even the brokers are beginning to feel this way, owing to the SEC in-ve.stigations. Some brokers are even unjustly saying that the past week will go down in history as the Kennedy Break. MUTUAL FUNDS There has been a great sale of mutual funds furing the past two years. It is reported that over 75,0Q0 .salesmen are selling mutual funds today. Mo.st of the stock exchange firms are indulging in the sale of mutual funds. They are allowed a commission of' one-eighth (rf one percent on listed stocks,, and cannot afford to have their salesmen go out and solicit small investors for this fee; but they get about 5 per cent on the sale of mutual funds which commission they can divide with the salesmen.

When a salesman sells a thousand dollars w'orth of mutual funds, the operators of the Fund must enter the stock market and buy a certain amount of listed stock. 'ITils bas bolstered the stock market during the past two years. It will be more difficult to sell mutual, funds and redemptions w'lU in-, -crease until the new's of the re- cent stock market break Ls forgotten. When a mutual fund holder turns in his shares to be redeemed, the Fund operators must sell some of their Usted stocks. I believe these mutual funds are perfectly safe; but they must go dow'n in price When a break such as W'e have had occurs. Therefore, the selling by mutual fund operator.^ has been one cause of the de^ dine in the .stoqk market. The dividends on mutual funds may not be reduced, excepting the so-called bonus dividends which results from capital gains. . . which the Funds may not get for a while. ,

IVHAT Wn.L THE STOCK MARKET DO NEXT?

It is evident that there have been many bargain hunters who have bought stocks the past week. This has caused some ralhes. I, however, do not believe that all is well. There are* many sore spots to be cleaned up by foolish Investors, al-though general business Is continuing good.

As I have mentioned many times before in this column, there Is too wide a gulf between the high prices that stocks have been selling at and their dividends. These low yields are unnatural and must be corrected. I had hoped to .see it corrected by a gradual and orderly decline. Readers, (Continued on page five)

Faster Depreciation Is Pushed

By ELMER KOES.SNER

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Six Month* ................ g0Q

yw ..............

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Strength For Today

aster 1 in-

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All advertlalng copy must received at least one day before blicarton date.-

By EARi. L. IM)UGL.\S8 KE(il LATIO.N BY LAW

Tyranny involve.s regimentation. Some people therefore get the idea that ficedom, in the be.st .sense of that term, is the piivilcge of doing whatever we want to do without re.straint. .

The inith of the matter Is that every penson in the world inu-t live uudcitsome form of regulation. Anythinp other than tlijs would mean chaos. Indi-vidual.s iiave to be regulated by law. countrirs by con.stitdtion.s or .<iomr framdt.ork of go\ eminent Cornoralioils. labor un-evrry gathering touedirr of human being.-- for any pur-ixi.se what.soever involves regu-lation.s of .some kind. Too much regulation and wo have tyranny; too little and we have dis

order.

CivUization has come aboft as the result of two forces v.oi k-iug among men the emergence of a sy.stem of regulation and the wiilingness of men to accept .such a s.v.stenn When a fair systent of regulation cxi.st.s and peoplr.s and nalion.s accept the sy.stem of regulation aftei; due leflectioiv then we have civilization. A.S long as peoples liave no .vyi>(em or re.slt the .sy.steni tlial has been adopted under law, they are savages nr matter how tali their bullding.s, how exten.'ivc their can>pu.se.s, how glorious their art galleries, how abundant their wealth and their natural rc.sources.

The ideal Is regiilaUon-wH4i . out repimentation. .siihmls.sion without .subservience.

Renewed pre.ssure for equipment depreciation come lax returns ha.s already begun and is bkely to increase.

The basic idea is that equipment depreciate.s from, year to year and the lo.ss ihrouglF wear and antiquation should be deductible from income taxes. The resulting saving.s are then used to buy new% more modern, efficient replacement equipment.

The controversy pivots on the que.stion of how fa.st a company should be allowed to write-off the cost of equipment. Bu-siness .-^a.Vs it needs faster vvrite-off.s so' it can replace equipment .'oonrr. Since this would cut (low n on immediate tax reven ues. Government Is reluctant.

Especially rapid depreciation write ofhs were a major facloi in .building the American oil in du.str.v U) what it Is today. It can be very cxpen.sive sinking holes into the ground when tli(?re K an orkls-on chance that oil

tat*

won I be found.

.J* . >

But.because of

depreciation tax Incentive, a great many investor.s were, encouraged to finance many dry lioles in finding and developing America's big oil re.serves. EUROPE.S EIHiE

Laster depreciation write-offs have been cited as a major factor in encouraging Europes industrial plant to burgeon and modernize as it has. Many manufacturers in the United Stafes complain that they are losing sales because they cant compete effectively with their Eurcf-pean competitor^ newer, better equipment.

An interesting .sidelight in the news ^ last week was that from February to May, Individual busines.smen had not revised plans for capital investment iipwarrl.s -which thev normally do in that period. Steel hhd cut back cxpendilure plans, not siir-piTsiiicly. hut .so had the booming auto inctustry.

" The ma.ior exception wa.s the te.-klile industrv. wlilrh lai.sed its .''Pending fnircu'-t': from $")(t().-000,000 to $590,000,000. This is

attributed In good part to the depreciation allowance break given textile manufacturers last fall by the Treasury Department.

Some changes ai'e on the way. Treasury Secretary' C. Douglas Dillon has promLsed faster write-offs by next month. In.stead of thousands of individual 'types of equipment, broad categories will be used. 'The lumping together will benefit many items.

In addition, according to Mr.* Dillon.*' The new guidelines will, in the vast majority of case.s. lj ' significantly shorter . . ,In no ca.sp w'ill 'thcy be longer.

T.AXPAYEH .VnVANTAGE

He also made it clear that the Revenue Service will be h.ovind to the new guidelin.s this year "while taxpayers wont be bound if they can prove even shprter u.seful lives for their

small favors.

But this kind of adjustment isnt what business wants. It wants frtie, basic reform a broad reappraisal of depreciation allow'ances and coasider-, ably faster depreciation, too.

-Roger M .Blough, U. S. Steel' Corp. chairman, last weelc spoke for industry as a whole when he said that with ade-. quate depreciation, business could more than make up for any possible loss of tax revenues through improvements and modernization of our d-mestic plants, through increases in earnings from enlarged exports and through the national growth that will follow-all of which will develop additional taxable income, corpor-.ate and personal.

'The Administration is ready to yield somewha$r~'With thif

concern for the flight of gold ^ abroad, with the need to become more competitive with EuVo-

c()nipmrnt than the gtiidpIine5..-.-^an Industry and with InCreas-

ed pressure in the States, It

Busuicss cau be Uiaiikful for might yield more.

.iar

f